HOW I GOT HERE

Disclaimer: The Cullen's, the Swans, and most of the characters mentioned in the story that are known from Stephanie Meyer's beloved Twilight Saga, are all hers and hers alone. I neither have nor wish to pass them off as mine. I do appreciate the fact that she did bring them to life and allows us to play with them in our imaginations. The only thing I will claim is the current storyline.

The awesome and talented dowlingnana searched out my errors and corrected them.

Shit! I guess that means I've won and now I have to stand in front of all of these people and utter words that really have no meaning to me. No meaning since she isn't here.

CHAPTER 2: THE FIRST ENCOUNTER

"I'm so glad that you decided you wanted to do this film. The script was written by a newcomer, more or less, to our business. This is-"

"What a minute. You said the writer is new to the industry? The story doesn't read that way."

"Well….I did say more or less, if you remember. The writer is a screenwriter and has worked more on doing reversions on different scripts from time to time and has also been connected more with the small screen and different series in that area of the business than with the big screen.

"But, now has presented a script, it was accepted and now the studio is gathering everyone to get it done."

"The story is an exciting one and I'm most anxious to meet the man that wrote it."

At this point in the conversation the two men reached the conference room door and was about to open it when it was suddenly jerked open from the other side by a young woman. She stood frozen in place the same as the two men as each were in utter surprise from what happened.

Steven Lance, Edward's manager, was the first one of the three that showed any signs of returning to normal. The young woman was still frozen and was staring at one of her favorite actors. The facts of how well honed his body appeared to be with the form fitting suit he was wearing and that his eyes were indeed the most indescribable green she had ever seen were registering unconsciously even though she was still in a shocked state due to the sudden appearance of two people standing on the other side of the door that she had just opened and intended to pass through.

And Edward wasn't showing any signs of being released from his shocked state and was also unconsciously registering the appearance of the beauty that stood before him that was small in frame with a waist that he could wrap an arm around with no problems, long, deeply rich reddish brown hair falling down her back and in front she had breasts that weren't overly large, but, would completely fill just the right size hand. However, what held his attention the most was the fact that he was looking into a set of the most soul revealing chocolate brown eyes he had ever seen; not dull as most brown eyes appear to be, but, vibrate with life, compassion and caring. They seemed to allow the viewer to see the total innocence of the further reaches of her soul.

Feeling a nudge from his side Edward was coming around, looked over at Steven with a frown and a raised eyebrow in query of what he wanted. But, without saying anything to Steven in front of the woman still standing in the doorway and blocking anyone from entering Edward turned back to look directly at her with his famous cocky smile. And with the appearance of his smile the woman's eyes moved down from Edward's eyes to his mouth to see the smile that he flashed at her.

It was that action that finally broke her frozen state and brought a quick blush to her cheeks. She drew a deep breath before asking to be excused for blocking the path. With that said she moved to one side for the two men to enter the room and once they were out of the way after entering she made a hasty retreat out the door and down the hallway.

Edward had been in the process of turning to speak to her, but, never got the chance due to her being so quick to move and then disappearing from sight down the hallway. With a shake of his head he turned back to the others collected in the conference room and greeted them while he moved to take a seat near the head of the table. But, as he took the seat that had been indicated to him by the person standing at the head of the table he noticed that one seat was empty as everyone else had taken a seat the same as he.

Turning to the man standing at the head of the table Edward asked, "Is everyone here?"

"All, but, one, however, I think the important ones of you are, so, we can go ahead and get started."

"Whose missing?"

"Our writer, the one that wrote the script, but, she isn't needed for us to begin rehearsals. Also, none of the agents are needed as well, so, ladies and gentlemen if you will get your asses out of here we can then begin." The one man that seemed to be in charge commented.

"You could watch your mouth a bit when talking to a woman, Clarence." Edward admonished the person in charge.

"I could, if I felt so inclined which I don't, but, I haven't a clue why any of them thought it was necessary to be here today which they haven't been in the past for the beginning of a client's starting a new film." He observed to no one in particular.

But, Steven was the one to immediately speak up, "Because none of the contracts have been signed as yet and that's what we were under the impression would be happening today; not a beginning rehearsal." That information brought the one in charge up to a halt.

With a look around to the face of each person present his shocked face started to turn a shade of red to move on towards the purple of anger. "Do you mean that none of you have signed any contracts as yet for this project?" He demanded.

"That is correct. That's why all of the agents are here with their client, you damn fool. This was the conference room we all seemed to have been asked to wait while discussions and such are sorted out in another conference area.

"It's beyond me why it's being handle in this fashion, but, I'm sure there has to be some quacked out explanation from someone somewhere along the line that will shed some light upon the reasoning." Steven finished delivering his grudgingly given comments.

But it didn't take any further comments from the other agents waiting or wanting to tear a strip off of him for the man to march towards the door, open it throwing it back hard enough it bounced off of the wall with a resounding noise and to disappear out of sight heading in the direction of the main offices.

"Well, I guess that took the wind out of his sails for now. But, you're right, Steven, it is most unusual for contract discussions to be handled in this fashion, especially with the stars of the project." One of the other agents did remark.

"I was wondering why a director was here when nothing had been completely settled." Voiced the supposed female lead of the movie, Kathrine Denali.

Edward wasn't pleased to be joined in the same project as she, but, he had little choice since he wanted very badly to do this movie, so, he figured he might as well bite the bullet long enough to tolerate her for the extent of this project. The plotline and the characters intrigued him enough that he desired to be one of the people to give it life upon the big screen for all to see. For some reason he just had a deep gutted feeling about this project that he had never felt before. It was as if it called to him.

And, it was with that thought that his mind turned back to the beauty he had seen at the door way. He made a mental note to himself that he was going to find out who she was and as much as he could about her before leaving today. There was a burning desire to see her again and to get to know her on a more personal level. Although a bit different than what he felt about why he needed to do this project, it was still like the same deep down feeling and finding out all he could about her was burning deep in his gut. It spoke of somehow being vitality important to him.

And that desire surprised him, mentally, as well since it very seldom happened to him. Usually, it was the women that chased after him trying to get his attention for various reason, some he didn't want to mention, but, did enjoy the mental picture he had where he had enjoyed the catching. So, for him to have the desire to do the chasing in a manner of speaking was surprising.

Clarence Winston, the director who had marched out a few minutes earlier returned with a bit of a subdued attitude and offered his apologies to everyone present. It was then that Edward armed with his determination to gather information about his mysterious beauty moved to get closer to Clarence.

"Clarence, did you happen to see the incident that happened earlier at the door as I was about to enter the room?"

"Yeah, but, didn't pay too much attention to what was going on. You and Steve were coming in and Isabella was going out." He remarked in a way that spoke of giving it no importance.

Edward sensed that something was wrong as Clarence's attitude was changed, more subdued than what it had been, between the time he had stormed out and then returned. So, pulling the man further away from the ears of the others, he quietly asked, "Clarence, what's wrong?"

The director looked at Edward for a moment or so before answering and then he told him that he had been replaced as director by none other than Demetri Oliveri. Clarence told Edward that he had been looking forward to breathing life into this story, but, the higher ups thought that someone with more experience was needed, so, he was replaced; just like that. Edward did try to give him some comforting words, but, nothing seemed to be working, so, he quietly withdrew to have a few words with Steven.

Edward realized that it might only make matters worse if he tried to withdraw any information about the woman he now knew as Isabella from Clarence. So, he asked nothing from the man concerning the subject. Instead, Edward knew that he would need to gain his information from other sources and Steven could be of help in that direction.

Clarence Winston left the conference room as did others that were having negotiations about their contracts to be in this movie. It seemed that in no time at all the room was clearing at a rapid pace. Edward knew that someone had fallen down on the job as all of this was supposed to have been handled long before now and that person was Clarence Winston along with his staff.

Finally, the only ones left were the two leads and their agents: Edward and Steven as well as Kathrine Denali and her agent, Irina Howard. Edward knew they would be the last since their negotiations would be the two that would more than likely take the longest to conclude. But, while each of the others were being dealt with Kathrine had tried repeatedly to capture Edward's attention, but to no avail. She was starting to become quite vexed about the lack of him paying her court as she felt was her due from any man. And, Edward Cullen was a man, but, not just any man; he was Hollywood legend.

Unbeknownst to Edward Kathrine had observed the exchange that had occurred at the door as Edward had arrived and was intrigued as she had seen the look on his face as he had encountered the girl. So, not just Edward, but, Kathrine as well was going to make every effort to find out who the girl was and decided whether she would be competition for Edward's attention or not.

A/N: Edward and Bella meet, but, where she had a profound impact upon him one has to wonder what type of feelings she had towards him. Of course, as with all stories we have a determined female has only thoughts of what she can do to have her way. How successful will Edward be in tracking down the woman that captured his interest and enflamed his desire?

All thoughts and reviews are always welcome. Thanks for reading.